First Few Days

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

Can I say that I love it already?

Denmark, Copenhagen, etc, etc.  Hehe, I should probably start from the beginning.

I am staying with a host family in Borup, a small town an hour away from Copenhagen (or København).  A mom with 4 daughters, 3 of whom live out of the house.  The last is turning 19, so she's an awesome companion.  Because there are so many bedrooms, this same family is hosting two other students (from Trinity College and Tufts University).  So, I have a very cozy bedroom, a cozy family, and everything is hyggeligt (comfycozy).

So I flew last Saturday, and even on this one flight there were lots of people going to DIS.  I met a girl from Wellesley who happens to know my friend from high school!  Small world :D.
The air is fresh, like the kind of air you get near an ocean, except without the saltiness.  I can't get enough.

There are a lot of biking people.  Not cycling as a hobby, but as a mode of transportation.  My family provides us with bikes and we bike to the train station every morning.  And all the trains and stations are very accomodating to bikes (chairs that fold up, racks to temporarily lock your bikes, etc).
Copenhagen is a city and at the same time it's not a city.  A lot of it has beautiful streets with painted buildings and ivy crawling up, and near the more modern section the buildings are still pretty short.  This is definitely a place for architecture people.

FOOOD!!!!!  Yum yum.  For lunch the common thing is to have an open face sandwich: 1 slice rye bread, spread with butter, top with meat slices or liver pate or egg, and then add cucumber and tomato slices and garnish with dill (if so desired :D).  Everything really is expensive, so most people bring lunch.  DO NOT EAT LUNCH AT THE DESK!  Work is work, and the Danes really like to relax with their food, so they go to the canteen or find someplace outside to take their lunch.  And their pastries (danish in our language hehe) are really something.  Cheese, cinnamon, chocolate, nutella, almonds, walnuts, jam, all sorts of deliciousness on delicately flaky puff pastry.  Not a place to lose weight (unless you bike/walk everywhere).  And they have this thing called soft ice, which is really just gelato (mmmmmmmmmm).  I know their restaurant NOMA placed number one this year, so I will definitely go there at some point.

The people are shy.  A professor called it "village mentality," where they are very friendly and cohesive and sharing and caring within their own communities, but are not very receptive to strangers.  By unreceptive I don't mean rude and all "cold-shoulder," but that they don't go up to strangers and introduce themselves, or make small talk on the way to work.  It's so SILENT.  It's up to you to talk to them, but don't bother if you're just making chitchat.  If you talk to them, be committed to engage them as much as you can.  it'll start out as you asking questions and them just answering, but if you persist, you will be rewarded with super friendly people.  This one girl was lost and the Danish woman she asked promptly led her to the desired location, going out of her way to make sure the girl found her spot rather than just giving vague directions.  Very friendly, I repeat.  A good way to start is a handshake and introduction.  On the train this morning I was sitting next to a (they won't sit next to you unless it's crowded and it's the only spot) very cute guy, so here's what happened.

Me: Hvad....hedder du? (pronounced vehl hih-luh doo)
Boy: -laughs- Jey hedder Mikay (that's how it sounded, I don't know how it's spelled).
Me: haha, Jey hedder Scarlett. (pronounced yah-ay hih-luh)
Host sister: -is laughing at me-  That's very good!  High five!
Me: -protesting her attention- Sorry (to Mikay)
Mikay: Hehe, that's ok.
.....silence.....
Me: Are you a student?
Mikay: Yes.
Me: At the university?
Mikay: Yes, University of Copenhagen, school of business.
.....silence...................
at my stop.
Me: Bye bye. (he waves)

So you see, it's rather one-sided.  I think I should have done a handshake first, and asked him more questions about the business school.  DId I mention my mom sent me to Denmark with the mission of acquiring a Danish boyfriend?  This is my quest haha.  Anyway, I know he also lives in Borup (b/c he got on from the same train station).  Fingers crossed that I will see him tomorrow morning.
Yesterday was a workshop called "Urban Awareness."  They sent us on a scavenger hunt to find sites around the city where a guide would be waiting to talk about some things:

1) the Harbour
The guide told us about how the harbor was once a military site (because it faces Sweden), but now is occupied by state buildings for diplomacy matters.  Gov't and military buildings fly the Danish flag that looks like a pennant rather than a rectangle (the rectangle one is for common use).  There are also these elephant statues everywhere (I think it is for some charity, after a period of time, they will be auctioned off).  Denmark used to be a vast empire holding all of Norway and Sweden, parts of Germany, the Virgin Islands, and both Greenland and Iceland.  Christian the IVth made a lot of wars, and lost a lot of wars, so he also lost lots of the territories and by the time of his death, Denmark was very near bankruptcy.  They also only had Greenland, Norway, and a chunk of Germany.  Norway and Germany were lost in the 19th century (200 years later).

2) Royal Palace
It looks like a square.  A square with 4 vaguely interesting buildings guarded by a single man with a poufy hat.  Unlike their British counterparts, there are a few ways to make them react. (1) Be an important person driving up in a car, and they will do a sort of salute and shout something (2) Attempt to touch the walls of the building, and they will shout angrily at you to bugger off.  It doesn't look very palace-y at all.  Originally the royal family lived somewhere in the center of Copenhagen, but they were moved when it burned down.  They didn't end up moving back because, as the professor put it, it was no longer politically correct to do so.  By that time, they became a constitutional monarchy (powers are limited) and the real seat of governing lay in Parliament's hands, so Parliament sits where the central palace once was, and the royal family remains relegated to the edge of the city.

3) King's Garden and Rosenborg Castle
This was Christian IV's summer palace.  In his time, this was outside the dumpy town called Copenhagen.  Christian IV was not very impressed and started a campaign of building and building (as well as warring).  He constructed his palace with an ancient form of surround sound: an orchestra played music in the basement and he had pipes going all throughout the castle to carry the music to every room.  Today it is a museum that publicly displays the crown jewels (the only European country to do so) and a bloody shirt belonging to the king when he was injured in a battle.  Hehe, I haven't entered yet, but I plan to do so.

Also, the garden is now a public park that's very popular.  There is a funny thing about Copenhagen, where a lot of the trees and bushes are trimmed into rectangular boxes, even in some of the parking lots.  I have a picture that I will put up later.
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Preconceived notions:
I guess I knew I was coming into a place where sustainability and family were big cultural aspects, and both of those I naturally support (I can see where some American students might object to limiting shower time or prefer to go out and party at night rather than chill with the family).  There are some things I noticed and am surprised about, not negatively (except for maybe the intense reticence).  For example, on the metro escalators, everyone not in a rush always stands to the right, so that there is always a clear path on the left for people rushing up the escalators.  They also don't have a word for please, nor do they say "excuse me" or "sorry" much because too much politeness implies distance and condenscencion (there is a big cultural thing about equality, EVERYONE is equal, so girls are expected to buy guys drinks once in a while, and children are entitled to talk back to their parents and have an opinion).  So if you're in their way, you might get nudged or prodded, which is not implying rudeness, just a cultural thing.

So I am happy (except for my allergies).

Did I mention the family has a cat?  A super cute fuzzy goo-goo eyes black kitty (who's 15, but they're always kitties to me) named Plet (meaning spot, even though she's completely black with no spots, lol).

So I am VERY happy hehe.